Up From the Ashes
by kaycross1184
Summary: After the death of King Arthur the kingdom of Camelot falls into civil war. One village tries to protect itself from the chaos but when it fails Hermione attempts to save the world despite contrary expectations. Eventual HGDM. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Once upon a time long, long ago lived the legendary King Arthur of Camelot. His reign heralded many prosperous and peaceful years for the people of his realm. Crops flourished, livestock multiplied, the people wanted for very little, and few if any bandits and brigands roamed the lands in search of easy plunder. Camelot's neighbors were also a peace and disinclined to war with one another for any reason.

When Arthur passed on, whether to the realm of death as some suppose, or to some other mysterious realm to await the time of his appointed return, a shadow gradually came to settle over all the land. No clear successor existed, leading the powerful lords and kings to quarrel over land and subjects, ever-seeking to carve a larger niche for themselves.

Amidst all this chaos, one small valley managed to remain overlooked by the petty lordlings and would-be-kings. This was due to the efforts of its chief, who also happened to be a wizard. Raised and educated in a monastery during the height of Arthur's reign, the chief knew no offensive or combat magics. He did, however, know defensive magics which could effectively hide the valley and its inhabitants from the knowledge of outsiders. The wizard-chief therefore cast spells and wards upon the borders of his valley that caused anyone who stumbled upon the tiny valley to suddenly remember a chore in the other direction or to forget what he was about in the first place. By this means was the village protected from most threats.

Others in the village were also wizards, mostly those who were related to the wizard-chief. Occasionally a girl would be born with the ability to work magic as well, though these witches were rare, and even more rarely taught even the defensive magics, much less the offensive ones. It was not thought proper for a woman to know how to fight, whether magically or not. A few people believed that in these violent times all people should be able to defend themselves, but the idea never progressed beyond such thoughts.

Nevertheless, the tiny wizard population was significant enough to protect the valley. Although the magic always bred true, fewer witches and wizards tended to survive to adulthood, keeping the magical population significantly lower that the non-magical. Those that did survive the magical ailments and accidents of childhood, however, had much longer lives than non-magical peoples, often living twice and sometimes three times as long as the average person. And so many years passed with the valley and its occupants safely separated from the chaos ensuing in the rest of the land.

There was just one thing the wizard-chief's spells could not protect the valley from: another wizard. Magic called to magic, and another wizard would be able to detect the boundary spells and even break through them if he were strong enough. It was rare, however, for a wizard to come across the valley, as typically it was their Muggle – or non-magical – underlings who encountered the valley during their scouting forays, and these were repelled by the spells.

The few wizards who did reach the valley over the years tended to be solitary travelers or refugees seeking someplace from the chaos and uncertainty surrounding them. Although the valley and its village were protected for the most part, the wizard-chief would not allow these travelers to stay, for he knew the valley could safely house and feed only so many people effectively. Most were content to dine with the chief, stay the night, and then continue on their way the next morning, never giving the small valley a second thought.

Still, the chief worried that the day would come when someone would take notice of the valley and not forget…

* * *

**AN: I'm going to warn everyone right now not to expect frequent or regular updates to this story. I have a newborn and a not-quite-2-year-old that I care for all day while my husband works, then I go to work in the evenings. I'd rather surprise you with a quick update than disappoint you with a delayed one. Also, I may at some point decide to convert this to an original fiction, as I've been told it has merit, but rest assured I will let you know before this story just disappears from the site. In the meantime, enjoy it!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One

"Hermione? Hermione!"

_Crap_, she thought and quickly ducked behind a bush.

"Are you hiding in that tree again?" her mother practically shouted for all and sundry to hear. "When I find you, girl…"

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as her mother's voice moved off into the distance, thankful for the new hiding spot she had found under a hedge bush that grew next to the cottage.

Although she would not like the beating waiting for her later on tonight, Hermione thought it was worth it to skip out on her mother. It wasn't that her mother was so terrible to her. Hermione just needed a break from her "education" in the proper behavior expected of her as the soon-to-be wife of the grandson and someday-heir to the chief of the village.

At age twenty-six, everyone could already tell that William Weasley would make an excellent chief someday, but Hermione had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. He was practically a sibling of hers because she had grown up with his youngest brother Ronald since infancy.

Ronald was another problem she had developed with this whole betrothal thing. Although they had been playmates and friends their whole lives, Hermione felt nothing more affectionate for him than friendship. After her engagement was announced and the wedding date set for late this autumn, however, Ron had made it known that he was in love with her and that he wanted her to marry him instead. Hermione had tried to explain that she had no interest in his brother but she couldn't just break off an arranged engagement, and even if she could, she had no interest in marrying _anyone_ at the age of sixteen, let alone him. All Ron could understand, though, was that Hermione wouldn't break the engagement with his older brother. So now Ron wasn't talking to her because he was both upset and jealous over something that none of them had control over.

But what she loathed even more than the decorum lessons and her impending nuptials were the lessons in domestic magic. It wasn't that she didn't see the value of being able to wash and fold the laundry or fix dinner with a flick of her wand. If nothing else it would free her to do something she actually enjoyed. But she wished she wasn't limited to _just_ domestic magic simply because she was born a witch instead of a wizard.

She was one of the most powerful witches the village had ever seen, easily learning every spell taught to her. Even the chief said so. But even more surprising and impressive was that her parents were Muggles. It was rare for a child of non-magical parentage to have magic of his or her own, regardless of whether the child was male or female. And witches were highly sought as wives by the village's wizards because many non-magical women feared the magic, despite having lived in its presence their whole lives, and would not marry a wizard.

Deciding she was safe from discovery, Hermione crawled out from hiding and hurried to the meadow. The blue and purple heather was nice and high this summer, providing the perfect cover from prying eyes if she lay down. She laid there for a while, staring at the clouds and listening to the birds sing songs to each other, musing over the unfairness of being born a magical girl instead of just an ordinary one. Yet she couldn't bring herself to resent her magic. It was too much a part of her.

After a while, she got up, made sure no one was in sight, and trotted off to yet another hiding place. Unbeknownst to the village elders or her parents, Hermione had taken to spying while they taught the young wizards the defensive spells protecting the valley. She would carefully listen to and observe everything said or done during the lesson, then creep away to a cave she had found where she would practice the same defensive spells using the mouth and walls of the cave as her borders. The only problem was she could never be sure if they were working properly because she was, of course, immune to her own spell.

Hermione reached the cave and pulled out her wand. Made of vine wood, it was ten and three-quarter inches long and had a dragon heartstring as its core. Hermione remembered well the day she went to the village's wandmaker to receive her wand. When he placed it in her hands and she gave it a flick, the magic that coursed through her body filled a part of her that she had never realized was empty. The wandmaker had looked at her appreciatively and told her two things. First, that such a match suggested that she was very powerful and, as such, she had a responsibility to use that power very wisely. Second was that she was extremely lucky to have found a wand that matched her so well. With the limited resources coming into the valley from the outside world, he was only able to do so much in the way of wandmaking and therefore had a limited supply and variety of wands. Often times young wizards had to settle for something only second best.

Hermione raised her wand and concentrated on the boundary spell. First she had to define the boundaries for the spell, which was fairly easy since she was using the walls and mouth of the cave. The trickier part came when she had to build a magical shield along the lines of the walls and make them meet in a dome over the cave, as well as tell the walls who to keep out. She had to concentrate really hard on that part of the spell because I was fueled almost completely by the intentions of the person casting it. The spell was completed with a swish of her wand and the incantation "_scutum tutelage_".

Once it was completed, Hermione could see the faint glimmer of magic around and above her, indicating she had succeeded in creating the walls. She could never be certain, however, that they would keep anyone out because her instructions were so vague: keep out people who mean me harm. She was never able to test her walls because no one within the valley would ever harm her, and anyone from without with those intentions was already blockaded by the chief's protection spells.

_Oh well_, Hermione thought to herself. _If practice makes perfect, I should have nothing to worry about_. She then proceeded to take down the spell and rebuild it several times before calling it quits and rushing back to the village green to observe the wizards' lesson for the day. Yesterday she had heard one of the elders say something about learning a new spell today, and she didn't want to miss it.

Hermione hurried to the green where the elders were still putting the young wizards through the warm-up exercises. She hurried around to the back of the town hall where bales of hay conveniently provided an easy climb onto the roof, which was the perfect place to observe and hear the lesson below. With a quick glance around to be sure no one was watching, she quickly scrambled onto the roof with a practiced ease that would have scandalized her mother and the other ladies of the village.

"Alright, lads, gather round," Elder Dumbledore said to the practicing wizards. "You know how to do the shield spell, and most of you are fairly proficient at it. Those who are not just need to practice more and concentrate harder. You'll master it in no time, I'm sure. Now, today we are going to learn the memory component that goes with the shield spell protecting our valley. This spell is only temporary, merely diverting their attention away from us until they are out of range of the spell."

Hermione crept a little closer to the edge of the roof. This was even better than she had hoped for.

Dumbledore continued. "Now, this spell is all about intention. If you are not confident when setting it, it can cause serious damage to a person's memory when they encounter it. You will all learn how to set it, however, only those among you deemed the most proficient will be allowed to cast the spell in defense of our people. We do not wish to draw undue attention to ourselves with malfunctioning memory spells.

"Now, for practice, you will be casting the spell on the town hall, which I have already cast the shield spell upon. Your goal is to prevent your fellow wizards from getting within five strides of the door before they are diverted by the spell. As you can see, we have healers watching in case any of you should need your memory restored."

Hermione looked over at Healer Derwent, startled to realize she had missed noticing the diminutive wizard from her perch. The fact that a Healer was on standby for this spell made her nervous. How would she be able to practice casting it if it was dangerous enough to others to warrant a Healer?

"Before I show you how to merge the spell with the shields, let us practice the correct wand movement and incantation. Move your wand as such, and say '_Dediscite hoc locum_'." Dumbledore dipped his wand under, brought it high, and then gave it a sharp flick.

Hermione watched avidly as the wizards below attempted the same movements and muttered Dumbledore's words. A few did it almost perfectly, at least in Hermione's opinion, but most of them were sloppy in their wand movements and showed no confidence at all.

Dumbledore smiled indulgently and said, "Not bad, not bad, for a first attempt, lads. Shall I show you again?"

Before he could raise his wand, however, there came a commotion from th road leading to the valley's entrance. Hermione raised up just enough to see a crowd of people surrounding who was presumably a wizard, since anyone else would have been deterred from approaching the valley by the spells. She turned to scurry down from her perch; with a visitor in the village, he elders, and her mother, would be looking for her to be presented during introductions. She would also be expected to dine at the chief's table tonight.

_Oh the joys of being engaged to leadership_, Hermione thought with an internal groan.


End file.
